Types of Political Polls

A modern political campaign would hardly be successful without polling. Even after the campaign is over, polls are used to gauge the opinion of the public on specific issues or to measure the general political mood. However, political polls do have their shortcomings. In the past, political polls have been shown to have had a detrimental effect on voting. There also are questions about the accuracy of some polls, either because of bias or imprecise polling methods.

Straw Polls

A straw poll is a nonbinding vote taken to determine the prevailing mood concerning a particular issue. A straw poll may be open or secret. Straw polls often are taken before measures are proposed for a vote to determine if there is enough support for them to pass.

Telephone Polls

Telephone polls often are conducted during political campaigns or to determine public opinion on issues. These polls are conducted by taking random samples of the population and conducing surveys by telephone. The results are tabulated and reported in newspapers and on television, radio and news outlet websites. For example, a sample of seniors aged 65 and older could be used to represent the opinion of those who would be most affected by the privatization of Medicare, which was a prominent issue during the administration of George W. Bush.

Online Polls

Another form of political polls is online polls. These polls are posted on websites, and may be open to anyone who visits the website. Other online polls may include a series of questions that qualify or eliminate potential poll takers. One drawback of online polls is that because of self selection (people choose to respond to the polls, or not), there is no way to determine whether the respondents to a polls are actually a representative sample of the population.

Tracking Polls

Tracking polls gauge the opinions of a selected group of respondents on a single question over time. The polls are reported over a set period, such as several days or a week, with the oldest results dropped when new results are added. In this way a tracking poll can be a more accurate means of measuring a trend in opinion. (See Resources.) A common type of tracking poll keeps track of approval ratings for an elected official. Other tracking polls are used to measure opinions on current events, such as the likely vote for an upcoming election.

Exit Polls

Exit polls are taken immediately after a voter has cast her ballot. Exit poll Interviewers position themselves as close to the polling place as they are allowed to be, and approach voters as they leave. The poll subjects may be randomly chosen. One infamous incident involving exit polls occurred during the 1980 presidential election, when Jimmy Carter conceded to Ronald Reagan several hours before the polls closed on the West Coast. The result was that many voters simply chose not to vote. Since then, exit poll results are almost never reported before all the polls have closed.

Expert Insight

Political polls are often reported with "error margins" of a certain percentage. These figures represent the probability that the results reported for a poll are inaccurate, either because of errors in interview sampling or in other areas of the polling process. Another potential problem with polls is interviewer bias--either with the phrasing of the question or the administration of the polls. Interviewer bias can significantly alter the results of a poll.

Resources

• History of Exit Polls
• Political Polls: An Educator's Reference Desk Lesson Plan
• CNN All Politics: What is a Tracking Poll?